F.A.Q

Frequently Asked Questions

Any question you would like to ask, feel free to do so in the comments section here. Whenever we feel the questions are important and should be listed here, we will put them below. Do note that most solution are based on what we do to Amber and proven to be useful, following the advise given is at your own discretion, we will not be responsible if anything goes wrong.

This page is to help everyone with any questions with their dog and need help. We love to help all dogs!

Purchasing a dogQ: May I know which pet shop you bought Amber from and the price you paid ?A: We bought it from a reputable breeder, a poodle owner that is SKC registered, do email SKC for a list of numbers for the breed of dog you want, we bought Amber at *$1500.Q: Can i have the number of the breeder you bought Amber from?A: The breeder does not intend to breed anymore puppies, try emailing SKC for other reputable breeder's number depending on availability.Q: Can you recommend me some good pet shops to get a puppy?A: We support Adoption, and if you really want to own a puppy, please check our FAQ page on how to select a healthy puppy. There are no such thing as good pet shops as the standard and expectation varies with different people. It is best to first speak with the seller, look at the dogs and decide for yourself whether or not to purchase from that particular store. Do not buy on impulse, if a particular store does not meet your requirements, skip and find another one.Q: What did you ask the breeder before buying Amber?A: What is his job, did he win any awards, how long does he wait to breed, how many jabs does he provide, who are the parents, how much is the dog, where are the siblings, worms prevention, what food he feed, how big will Amber grow, where is his vet, what other dogs does he have, how he train his dogs, the brush he use, when can i collect Amber, what should i get ready for Amber, what should i take note about Amber, show me her health(teeth, eyes, ears etc., is Amber active.Q: What should you look for if you're getting a puppy?A: - Make sure the puppy is active and healthy, (e.g: running around, jumping on you..) - The gum is pink, with some growing teeth (if the breeder claims that they are 2-months old, some shop might be lying by selling 1-month old pups due to their small sizes) - Nose should be moist and not dry or wet. - Eyes should be bright and no blood-shot - It's best to wait after 2nd jab to bring the puppy home.Want to know more?? Check this Post out! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dog CareQ: What items should I get before getting a dog?A: Playpen, pee tray, brushes, collar and leash, toys.....Check this POST for more details!Q: Do you provide Amber with water for 24 hours daily?A: We give Amber unlimited amount of water from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., this is because we do not want Amber to have the urge to wake up to pee during sleeping time.

Q: My 3 months old poodle has two different tone of colors on his coat, it wasn't like this when he was younger, is it normal?A: Colors especially on poodles have about 90% chance to fade/wear off, it is perfectly normal, for a 3 months old poodle i believe your dog is changing his coat from puppy coat to adult coat, once he grows into an adult it will be more uniform.

Q: Why does my dog smell other dog's butt?A: You may notice this behavior especially when your dog meets new dogs, this is a way of acknowledging other dogs. Dogs that show aggressive behaviors when other dogs approach to smell them means that it does not want to "be friends".

Q: How old should i start to spay/neuter my dog?A: Around 6 months old, before first heat is recommended, check out our post on Amber's spaying progress.Q: At what age can we stop giving our dog milk? A: About 3 months old you should stop giving milk, reduce the amount slowly. Actually, dogs don't even need milk to eat their food unless the vet recommends to.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------About AmberQ: How old is Amber?A: She was born on 03 December 2011.Q: How often do you bath Amber?A: We bath Amber once a week, this is the recommended amount for a dog, doing it more than once will result in higher chance of getting dry skin and dry coat. We bath Amber using Johnson Baby Shampoo Tearless for the face area and Plush Puppy Body-Building Shampoo for the rest of the body.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Our ServiceQ: Do you do boarding?A: Yes, email us at amberwonderland@gmail.com or read here for rates and more information.Q: Do you do training?A: Yes, we conduct 1-1 private training, do email us at amberwonderland@gmail.comYou can also check out our Training Page and Testimonials for more information.

We got ourselves a mini toy poodle and its a male. My girls named him Shinee. Shinee is 2½ months old now.

We are in the process of house training and I have a few questions which I need your advise :

1. Should we sanitise the crate tray after its soiled ( covered with newspapers. BTW, we are not using a pet tray ). We are worried that he will be confused if the urine odour is gone. At the moment, when he pees at one spot, he will continue to od so at the same spot. But his poops can be everywhere. However, after each cleaning, he may change the urine spot, but it will be the same spot until we cleaned it. We clean it a few times a day, especially after it poops.

2. Any advise how we can train him to poop at the same spot where he pees ?

3. We have tried without success to get him a collar as they are all too big. May I know where did you get yours ?

We are new dog owners and are learning. Your blog is a great one with lots of information for us to learn from.

1. animals learn house breaking by smelling a spot where they have urine before and then urinate on the same area. So never sanitise the area u want him to urine especially on the pee tray, just throw away the newspaper, if u need to wash the pee tray, just wash with water. when u catch Shinee urinating on the wrong place, quickly carry him to the urine spot, use a cloth/tissue to wipe the urine and rub it on the pee tray. make sure he see what u are doing. u will also need to sanitise the area where u dont want him to urine on.

2. for poo the method is also the same, put the poo on the pee tray, show him and then throw the poop away. also have to sanitise the area he pooped wrongly.

3. i am using one brand call Me To You, it is also too big for Amber when she was 3 months old. I saw a really small one at Pet Lover Center selling at $3.90-$4.90, i am sure that one will fit Shinee.

Btw i still recommend pee tray like Yogi Pee Tray, if u use the crate kind many dogs don't like to step on the metal grills, can i know how big is your crate(for peeing)?the bigger it is the harder it is to train him.

Overall u need a lot of patience and also time to catch him pee/poop wrongly so u can correct him. for this particular training i will not recommend physical actions, rather saying NO in a firm and serious tone will be enough. Whenever Shinee pee/poop at the correct area u must praise him and give him treat!

Hi Anonymous, Amber has a tail but it is around 1-2cm long, recent picture will give an illusion she has a longer tail because we kept the fur above the tail longer, truth is she doesn't really have a prominent one!

I just lost my beloved dog at 14.5 wonderful years, and was thinking of getting another companion one day. Chanced upon your blog when looking for reputable breeders.

I'm working long hours these days, and it would not be fair to a new dog to be home alone so long. It's also been a long time since I got a puppy (I was 10 then), so your blog has really made it easier for me to make a decision.

We are sorry for your lost, our beloved bunny Chocolate had just passed away and we can totally relate to you and your dog.

We stopped working for about 3 months at least to take care of Amber and teach her the necessary things before leaving her alone at home. This is not compulsory but we think it would at least speed up the training process, we do understand that not everyone has the ability to stop working for that long though, which is partly why this blog was made, to let everyone know our trial and errors so that it would help everyone who has less time!

Thank you so much for the compliment, it has really brightened up our day and we would continue to post more valuable information in time to come.

Hi I was wondering whether Amber is capable of jumping on the couch? I have a red toy poodle now just over 6 months and she is 2.4kgs, her name is Rosie and I would hope that she could jump on the coach in the future.

It will depend on how tall your dog is, larger dogs are more capable of jumping higher with their long legs. All dogs would love to jump on the couch with their owners, would your dog put it's paw on the couch or tries to get on it whenever you are sitting? I would suggest to let it go naturally, as it is still a puppy it will take time for the dog to mature their "guts", Amber was also not jumping up the couch during 6 months old, now she just jump up whenever she wants to and even jump down. Be careful of their joints though, they might hurt themselves jumping!

I have been reading your blog for a long time. It's good and enjoyable! My female toy poodle is 2 months younger than Amber and her name is Velvet. Had been following your tips and the milestones of Amber too! hehe it is like a guideline for me...

Velvet went for her steralization on 14 Aug (when she turned 6 months). Her wound healed up very much the same time as Amber. However, i realised that her thread is still there at the surface of her belly. Is it the same for Amber? If not, I better check with the vet. He said there's no need to go for a return visit to remove the stitches.

May i know where you went for the spaying(sterilization)? Amber also had a bump after her wounds healed, but her surgery was stitched from the inside it will dissolve automatically after 1-2 months. The outside wound was closed by what they called "surgery glue". I'm sure if the wound looks like it is closing up and redness is gone there is nothing to worry about, you could also just give the vet a call to make sure.

We are so happy that you are following the blog all along, we'll try to post more tips soon. Feel free to ask anything we'll try our best to help!

Velvet went for spaying on 14 Aug. there's no more redness nor scar but there is this particular black thing sticking out from her belly and I am not sure if it is her umbilical cord. Can u try to feel amber's belly if u can feel anything?

the first 2 months was quite obvious, looks like something is sticking out, especially from the side view. But now it is already smoothed out, there was no black object sticking throughout the healing process. Could you give the vet a call, ask them about the black object and tell us what they said?

if not you could go to our recommended vet which is Light of Life Veterinary, hope it is nothing serious!

hey i am back! Sorry for not updating earlier! :) Alls well with Velvet... the black object suddenly disappeared. Hehe i suspect it could be a dried blood clot due to the wound. anyway Velvet is all happy and jumpy! Yeah! ^^

Hi, I was reading about Amber and I just thought I would drop you a line and let you know there are only three classes of poodles--toy, mini, and standard. I saw mini toy mentioned a couple of times--no such thing. Also, poodles have hair not fur. Your blog is enjoyable. Keep it up! From a breeder of champions & pet toy poodles (reds & apricots).

Thank you for suggestions, because the blog is updated by 2 person, we each have different ideas about the use of phrases and words depending on different scenarios.

For example if the post is about dogs that do not shed, we would take more care into the words used, like saying "poodles have hair instead of fur". But in some cases when we just want to let people briefly understand the thing that is on dog's skin, we would use "dog's fur" so that it won't be weird to read especially for beginners.

As for mini toy that is used on the description of Amber, it is for "cute purpose" i believe, if one day i were to write a post about the different breed and sizes of dogs, i will not put mini-toy in the sizes category.

Your suggestions are very much appreciated, you sound like an experienced and reputable reader, we will surely take your words in mind, thank you!

"Mini" Toy poodle is simply referring to Toy poodle which has smaller build. I do encounter some Toy poodles that are only slightly smaller than Miniature but much big than the normal-sized Toy. We only use mini toy poodle to refer to Amber, she is indeed smaller than normal Toy Poodle size :)

Hi, I was wondering how long you can leave Amber alone and what times you are aiming for to leave her alone in the future? I currently work part time but I am worried that one day I might be out of the house for eight hours or so.. what do you think?

in fact, I've recently got a poodle almost exactly same with Amber in terms of color or size, he is about 7 weeks old. He is a home breed so after 1st jab, I brought him home to a new environment.

Frankly speaking, this is my first dog so kinda feel excited but also tired trying to learn more on looking after him, Edson.1. Well 1st day is like shy in a new environment inside a cage but 2nd day he starts to make those groaning sound and bark at times whenever you walk pass though the barking sound was not that fierce.

2. At times, will bring him out to play with my two kids and when he feels so wildful running everywhere around and keeps biting fingers and anything that could laid in his mouth. Is this normal? So wanna try to teach him basic instructions but just difficult to catch his attention coz he just runs up and down non stop.

3. Earlier we put n some milk to his meals and he like very much but slowly we tried to take out the milk and only put plain water with meals, he rejects so no choice we have to put milk back in order not to let him skip his meals. What should I do or is there any age that we should stop his milk intake and purely on dry food and plain water?

4. Today is our first day to try giving him a shower and is like so difficult to catch hold of him. We understand we should clean his ear to prevent infection but me and my husband tried and simply so difficult to catch hold of his head and leg. How should I do to clean his ears?

5. Normally how long to bring poodle to groom or is it like every month? Also cutting of nails is you normally cut by yourself or you leave it till grooming?

Hi lyn, would you like to email us at amberwonderland@gmail.com regarding your issues? It is quite hard for me to navigate and reply using mobile on the blog as we are overseas and unable to access a proper computer.

I enjoyed your blog and must say that Amber is beautiful..How heavy does Amber weigh now? And do you think it's good for them to wear shoes whenever they go out? Personally, I think so as this helps to keep their paws clean but some peeps have been saying otherwise...

I've noticed you put the pee tray inside amber's crate? i would like to do that with my toy poodle, but i've read online that dogs hate sleeping by their waste? Is amber okay with it being in her crate?

This is usually not the case as dogs love things that are closely related to their smell, however it is very important that your crate is big enough for your dog to walk around even with the pee tray placed inside. Some dogs do love cleanliness and would not like it if you don't clear away their poop on a daily basis, this practice should be done for hygiene purpose too.

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